Final Project

CCR

FInal cut

Okay so i'm, pretty much done with this editing stuff. Ive started the color grading process and its going really well. Ive put a sort of blue tint on all of the videos. The only difficult part of this was making all of the shots look the same color wise. I also added this sort of fog look to make it look more apocalyptic. Overall the shots look good, but I need to fix a few minor videos. Im also having trouble using the warp stabilizer as it trims, crops, and makes some of the shots look like jello. Others than that i'm pretty much done. I saved the music for last as well so that I can choose a song that fits. I also left the title for last as I wanted to see the final product before coming up with one.

Turn up the volume

Ughhhhhh. Audio is the most annoying thing to work with. It took me HOURS to add in footsteps that matched the timing of the video. I recorded these by going outside, gathering a pile of leaves and crunching them up. This worked with the video because it was in a forest scene, otherwise I would have done it differently. The natural scene also inspired me to do other forms of sound that could be found outdoors.  For example,  I found a non-copyrighted overlay of birds chirping that is played on loop throughout the video in the background. Much of the audio had bits of people in the background, which was rather bothersome, and at some points I had to lower the original volume, so that they could not be heard.  
As for the foley sounds, thus far I only included one where the zombie was banging on the door. I created this sound by banging a book on the side of a plastic cabinet. I did this because the camera was too far from the wall to pick up the sound of the actor banging on it.  I also filmed the audio for the conversation between the child and his mother, I also found some radio sounds that I mixed into the conversation. 
I am yet to find the music or the zombie noises for the film, which are the most important parts of the audio. I am getting the music from Killer Tracks, but i have not found out where I am going to get the zombie noises from.  For now I am going to keep mixing the audio and using the most amount of original audio possible. 

Listen out for more!!

   

Lights, Camera, Action!

I finished filming!! I went back to Markham to film again, but this time I dedicated a full day to filming and I think it went well. Sadly, my camera died, but I got my main shots done and I think I have enough time to make the film. I stuck to a small spot away from people, which was difficulty because, there was a huge biking event of some sort and booths were set up throughout the entire park. I ended up finding a nice secluded section of forest that had a lake in the center which was perfect for filming. 
The only issue was that some voices and boats can be heard in the background of the videos, but with inputted audio, that could be solved. I've already played and organized all of the footage and inputted them into Premiere Pro, to start editing. I have the larger shots where I want them to go and now i'm just going to add in the smaller ones to fill in the space and add extra time. After that I am going to start trimming the rough edges so that the video flows. Once that is done i'll start editing the footage and audio (color correction, warp stabilizer, music, sound effects, graphics, etc.). Im fairly happy with how the shots came out, many of them are composed nicely, with only minor errors such as: shaky video and blurriness. 

This is a raw capture of one of my shots, to demonstrate the video quality. In the sunlight the shots did not come out this nice, but they aren't awful or unusable either. I can also correct some of them with color grading. 
You can also see the scenery here as well, which I am pleased with, as it adds that abandoned and dismal feel, that many of the zombie movies include. I think I captured that well, so thats a plus for me. I also got some shots of just the scenery so that I can include it in some of the blank spots. 
This is only the section of the film that comes after the first scene, which I filmed just before the forest ones. That part includes the main character waking up in a scare, as a zombie bangs on the door. Then the main character gathers all of his things and makes a radio call to his mother, who is in the city. I haven't recorded the audio for this part yet, but it is essentially a conversation between the whereabouts of the two. Then after the call a long shot shows the character leaving. This is where the forest shots will be played, acting as the journey to the city.  The main focus is actually on that scene so, the forest shots, wont have a lot of appeal to action and or adventure, with the exception of the a close encounter with a zombie that sends the main character on a run. 
Editing is pretty much my next step, and although I am looking forward to it, I am also dreading the load of work that it takes.

See you next time!